Zanns Place columns – History Investigatorhttp://historyinvestigator.net
A Blog by Zann NelsonFri, 11 May 2018 10:46:19 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.6ZANN’S PLACE: Anticipation of interesting storieshttp://historyinvestigator.net/2018/05/zanns-place-anticipation-of-interesting-stories/
http://historyinvestigator.net/2018/05/zanns-place-anticipation-of-interesting-stories/#respondThu, 03 May 2018 15:24:26 +0000http://historyinvestigator.net/?p=720Anticipation! The magic potion that gets us up in the morning; gets us past the humdrum of routine, and often over the hump of life’s less than desirable events. It helps if the anticipation is for the promise of good things: presents, sweet time with family and friends, a great meal, good bottle of wine or that first smell of rebirth when the sun finally warms the dirt beneath your feet.

But wait there is more! For those of us with a pioneering spirit, a love of adventure and the quest for new knowledge the possibilities are limitless. Every day, every meeting, every new person, or every time one walks out of the door there is that amazing opportunity for new discoveries.

And my point is you ask?

I am working on a couple of stories that are absolutely fascinating! I do not yet have enough facts to offer a full and well-documented report but thought you would enjoy a teaser. Just enough of the concept to whet your appetite and create a little of that delightful anticipation.

Credit where credit is due: I was alerted to the event by a reader from Washington, DC via Orange County.

In 1907 articles in the Washington DC papers reported on a “riot in Rapidan, VA,” a: race- riot no less. It appears that on September 2, 1907, a group of black men after boarding the train at the Rapidan station attempted to sit in the “Whites Only” section. When the conductor could not persuade them otherwise he removed them from the train. That was not the end of the story.

Once off the train they allegedly attacked the station master and began to throw “sticks and stones” at the trainmen. Apparently, word had spread rapidly as they were met by a large crowd of white men armed with baseball bats. According to a newspaper report, one of the rioters slipped off to a nearby house and returned with a gun. Instead of wounding one of the white men, this same man was shot in the leg, presumably not self-inflicted. The articles closed the report stating that a few of the men were arrested and taken to Culpeper to await a hearing.

I have searched the courthouse for records and so far, have come up empty-handed. There are more files to examine.

I met with the gentleman that put me on to the story and reported my findings. He not being from the South suggested that perhaps after some consideration the local authorities determined no harm, no foul and dropped the case. I was not convinced.

I continued the research and found several additional articles (under different headings). Those commentaries painted a different picture theorizing that the attempt to break the Jim Crow law by sitting in a “No Coloreds Allowed” section of the train was a ruse: the real intent was to murder the station master.

I now have a more detailed account of the event with names! Until I can give you the best of my research, ponder on the statement below written in one of the newly discovered publications two days after the event.

The article reported that two negroes named Jim and Frank – I have withheld the last names for now- were arrested. Jim was taken to Culpeper to await the next Grand Jury hearing and Frank was “fined and imprisoned at hard labor.”

With names in my pocket, I will return to the courthouse and attempt to speak with someone that may have heard the stories. You can bet there will be more to come!

I bet you are a little curious as to what this is all about and wondering if Culpeper got any of that $500,000. We may not discover why it took Congress twenty-five years to make this decision, but let’s lift the curtain and see what we find.

The “war claims” noted in the headline pertained to the damage resulting from the American Civil War. I find it interesting that the secondary headline states that the this comes after twenty-five Years of defeats. Using a calculator to avoid even the simplest of mathematical errors, twenty-five was subtracted from 1915. The result is 1890! Are we to understand that despite the 1865 end of the Civil War that claims were not submitted until 1890? One can comprehend a reasonable amount of wait time accounting for political chaos and confusion related to the assassination of Lincoln and general bureaucratic procedures, but twenty-five years before submission seems implausible. In fact, records support that many claims were submitted before 1865. If the headline was not a typographical mistake, then it should be made clear that the claims were approved fifty years after the fact.

Moving beyond the remarkable span between the submission of claims and the receipt of same, the article identifies by county where located which entities were successful. Claims were submitted for damage to property by Union forces. Some destruction transpired during the battles from artillery engagements and subsequent fires as in St. James Episcopal Church at Brandy Station, VA in 1863.

The majority of claims, however, were for damage to buildings used for hospitals, headquarters or the quartering of livestock during the non-combat periods of occupation and winter encampments. In many cases, the buildings were dismantled for the materials. The encampment of an estimated one hundred thousand troops during the winter of 1863-’64 resulted in veritable military cities in three primary locations of Culpeper County: Culpeper Court House, Stevensburg, and Brandy Station. Where there was a shortage of existing housing or none at all, materials were appropriated for huts, chimneys, and walkways.

No doubt, readers are now waiting anxiously to find out who were the fortunate few in Culpeper that received remuneration for their losses and just how much was the sum they collected. Reparations were paid to twelve entities for a total of $12,780-the equivalent of 315,059.90 in 2018. Without further ado, this is what was reported.

To the trustees of the Baptist Church of Culpeper, $1,750.

To the trustees of Fairfax Lodge No. 43, Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons, of Culpeper, $700.

To the trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, of Culpeper, $1,850.

To the trustees of the Presbyterian Church of Culpeper, $760.

To the vestry of St. Stephen’s Protestant Episcopal Church, of Culpeper, $1000

To the trustees of Calvary Protestant Episcopal Church, of Culpeper County, $1,650.

To the trustees of the Cedar Grove Church, of Culpeper County, $390.

To the trustees of the Cedar Run Baptist Church, of Culpeper County, $900.

To the trustees of the Chestnut Fork Old School Baptist Church, of Culpeper County, $1,180.

To the trustees of Ebenezer Methodist Episcopal Church, of Culpeper County, $900.

To the trustees of New Salem Baptist Church, of Culpeper County, $1000.

To the wardens and vestrymen of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, of Culpeper County, $700.

The 1915 list suggests that some of these churches have been renamed, no longer exist or were misidentified as being in Culpeper. All fodder for another article.

Until next week, be well.

This column was published on 04/26/18 in The Culpeper Times www. culpepertimes.com

A note to readers: I have added the posts from my Zann’s Place column in hopes of adding another dimension to the Blog. They will be categorized as such and grouped under the appropriate heading in a box on the right. As you will find, some are about history-mostly Culpeper’s- and others are about my life -past and present- on the farm and lessons learned. I love remembering them and sharing them; here is hoping they add something, if only momentarily to your day.

They say that adversity builds character, but past events might beg the question of how much character does one individual need?

I live on my family farm in what is still considered “the country” and take a great deal of pride in my independence. Raised with a can-do attitude that coupled with a philosophy of frugality at times stretched to the point of ridiculous, has been a very handy asset.

The founding fathers and mothers survived on ingenuity and perseverance. Not so long ago front-porch stories regaled to the younger generations these attributes.

The stories are great but there is little substitute for experience itself. By no means would I recommend the destruction of property or the shutting off of your water or heat supply to fabricate a test of abilities. Yet, such an incident is an excellent test of one’s level of self -reliance.

Some time ago, there was a most regrettable event when my basement-a glorified name for what is an enlarged root cellar-flooded due to my negligence. Earlier I had discovered a leaky regulator valve. I ordered the part but waited too long to make the repair: the result was a burned out motor. To make matters worse this all occurred on a Friday afternoon.

The furnace provides heat and hot water and it was immediately obvious that I didn’t have either. The reason was not confirmed until the expert technician arrived on Monday afternoon.

By today’s standards, the working conditions were dismal. Nonetheless, the young man didn’t complain about having to crawl to get to the furnace.

I felt almost apologetic when I told him that I had been without heat and water since Friday. I explained that I kept a fire going in the den and had ample blankets for nighttime, but I am certain that he questioned my mental stability for not moving to a hotel.

Oh, well, in the true spirit of pioneers, this is my home and I hate to abandon it in hard times.

I often think about what Rev. Silas Bruce, the former resident during the 1800’s, would have done. No doubt he prayed a lot then proceeded to figure it out!

Cultivating creative solutions to life’s dilemmas requires a proper attitude and the application of ample time to consider the issue unhampered by the pressure for an immediate fix.

I remember the summer that a crawfish bore a hole in the bottom of our spring-fed water system. The six weeks without running water was a dream come true for us kids. The “fix” required blasting a new hole through bedrock, setting a new holding tank with new pipes to the pump. Dad established an ample supply of water for cooking and flushing and bathing took place in the pond. I have no idea why it took so long, but it became a part of our life for the time being.

The experience paid dividends: in February of 1977 while seven months pregnant with my first child, Culpeper’s temperatures plunged into the teens and would not see a thaw for 30 days.

We called the plumber who thawed the water pipes right away. When they froze again by nightfall, we accepted our fate. We were lucky; we had heat and electricity!